University College London

An Updated Evidence Assessment of the Genetic Causes of Dilated Cardiomyopathy

BACKGROUND: Evidence of the diverse genetic architecture of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) continues to emerge and requires reassessment of the clinical relevance of implicated disease genes. Building on the 2019-2020 Clinical Genome Resource evaluation, the DCM gene curation exper...

A protocol for biodiversity-informed wildlife disease surveillance

Land use and climate change are increasing the risk of spillover of zoonotic disease into human populations. However, we lack actionable information about the prevalence of pathogens in wildlife populations for most of the globe, challenging our ability to implement strategies to...

Research Update: A Systematic Review of the Relationship Between Eating Disorder Symptoms and Parental Socioeconomic Status ( SES ) Among Adolescents

ABSTRACT Objective Eating disorders (EDs) have long been viewed as disorders affecting higher socioeconomic groups, yet recent evidence shows they occur across all backgrounds. This systematic review and meta‐analysis aims to evaluate the relationship between parental socioeconom...

Neural sharpening of object categories through parafoveal priming

Abstract During natural vision, humans make saccades approximately every 250–300 ms to fixate on important objects in a scene. Given this rapid succession of eye movements, it has been proposed that visual processing begins in the parafovea, prior to fixation. Such parafoveal pre...

Frequency and Circumstances of Falls Events in People Living With Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy: A Cross‐Sectional Survey

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is an adult-onset X-linked neuromuscular disorder associated with progressive weakness, sensory involvement and impaired mobility. Falls appear frequent in SBMA, but their real-world frequency and circumstances hav...

Collective Bargaining in Germany: Trends and Challenges

ABSTRACT This paper examines the evolution, institutional structure, and challenges of collective bargaining in Germany. Collective bargaining addresses labor market imperfections, redistributes productivity gains, and shapes working conditions. Germany's system centers on indust...

Tissue flow acts as a guidance cue for immune cell polarization and directional migration

Abstract Embryonic myeloid (EM) cells are the first immune-cell population to emerge during development and must disperse throughout the embryo to act as the first line of defence against infection. Although EM cells migrate directionally toward wounds, how they navigate through...

Outcome severity increases verbal probabilities used in dyadic communications

Verbal probability expressions (VPEs) are interpreted as denoting higher numerical probabilities where they describe severe events, as compared to more neutral events (all else equal). Previous research suggests that this effect represents the correction of a perceived tendency f...

Cellular Senescence and Immune Dysregulation in Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure: A Case Report Integrating Single-Cell and Spatial Transcriptomic Profiling

Background: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a clinical syndrome characterized by acute decompensation of cirrhosis, systemic inflammation, and high short-term mortality (1). The underlying mechanisms involve a complex interplay between cellular senescence, immune dysregu...

Cellular Senescence and Immune Dysregulation in Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure: A Case Report Integrating Single-Cell and Spatial Transcriptomic Profiling

Background: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a clinical syndrome characterized by acute decompensation of cirrhosis, systemic inflammation, and high short-term mortality (1). The underlying mechanisms involve a complex interplay between cellular senescence, immune dysregu...

New insights into the $$b\rightarrow c \bar{u}q$$ puzzle through Top–Bottom synergies

Abstract Anomalies in the non-leptonic $$\bar{B}^0\rightarrow D^{(*)+}K^{(*)-}$$ B ¯ 0 → D ( ∗ ) + K ( ∗ ) - and $$\bar{B}^0_s\rightarrow D^{(*)+}_s\pi ^-$$ B ¯ s 0 → D s ( ∗ ) + π - decays may be an indication of physics beyond the Standard Model, but the large deviations requir...

Under‐Explored Species, Breeds and Cell Types With Potential for Cultivated Meat Production

ABSTRACT To achieve scale and cost parity, cultivated meat production must overcome critical bottlenecks such as the quality of starting cells. This review presents a systematic evaluation of unconventional and non‐traditional sources of cells as targeted strategies to address th...

A paradox of brokerage: alter distrust, network self-promotion, and the willingness to accept referrals from brokers

Individuals embedded in networks rich in structural holes are well positioned to broker referrals between otherwise disconnected others. Yet these hole-rich networks create a paradox: although they help brokers identify valuable opportunities, they also undermine the trust requir...

Visual, vestibular, and ocular motor changes during nitroglycerin‐triggered vestibular migraine

BACKGROUND: Intravenous nitroglycerin (NTG) is a well-established model for provoking migraine attacks, but it has not previously been used to characterize vestibular migraine (VM). Different types of nystagmus have been reported during spontaneous VM attacks. We aimed to measure...

Development of postpartum-specific extensions to the PROMIS sleep disturbance and sleep-related impairment item banks

Abstract Background Postpartum sleep is a unique construct, and existing sleep patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) do not adequately address some of its fundamental domains. We aimed to develop postpartum-specific extension items to the PROMIS Sleep Disturbance (SD) and Sle...

Temporal trends in intraoperative hypotension exposure in major non-cardiac surgery: a retrospective cohort analysis

Abstract Background Intraoperative hypotension is a common occurrence during general anaesthesia that has consistently been associated with perioperative organ injury. While international consensus guidelines increasingly advocate for maintaining absolute mean arterial pressure t...

Evolutionary Dynamics-Aware De Novo Design of a Thermostable NS1-Derived Diagnostic Protein for Yellow Fever Virus

Abstract Serological diagnosis of neglected arboviruses remains hindered by extensive intra-genus cross-reactivity, compromising both assay specificity and epidemiological accuracy. In this study, we focused on yellow fever virus (YFV) as a model system to design and validate a g...

The Internet as Precedent: Architectural Lessons for Federated Computing

This technical note examines the Internet as an architectural precedent for Federated Computing. The analogy lies in preserving local autonomy by making only the conditions required across boundaries explicit. It is not a proposal for a Federated Computing protocol stack, nor a d...

Multimodal GenAI for Communicative Language Teaching: Gemini Live

ABSTRACT This review explores the pedagogical affordances of Gemini Live, Google's multimodal generative AI (GenAI) chatbot, for communicative language teaching, with particular attention to task‐based interaction. Unlike earlier text‐ or voice‐based GenAI chatbots, Gemini 2.5 re...

Effect of human urinary microenvironment and fluid flow on antibiotic and phage therapy efficacy against uropathogenic Escherichia coli

Abstract Urinary tract infection (UTI) remains a major global health burden, with frequent recurrences and rising antimicrobial resistance compromising treatment efficacy. Conventional susceptibility assays often fail to predict clinical outcomes, highlighting the need for more p...